As the end of August approached, many eighteen-year-olds became occupied with fantasies of college life. While some were excited, others became more and more nervous as move-in day drew near. This fear comes from not knowing what to expect and from the pressure of having to start over from scratch and make new friends.
As one freshman, MacKenzy Lilly said, “I was envisioning [the first week] to be the worst week of my life. I was afraid I wouldn’t have any friends… and would just be sitting in my room alone.”
Luckily, the college with the orientation committee foresaw this problem and sprang into action months before the freshmen even began thinking about arrival day.
Back in January, a team got together to begin planning that first week. Orientation coordinators with their committee came up with a number of ideas designed to educate the students about relevant topics such as making healthy choices in college, accepting diversity and respecting Conn’s honor code.
The point of orientation, according to Jill Blodgett, the Dean of College Offices, is to “help students transition into college,” as it is often a hectic transition and a complete change in lifestyle for the freshmen.
One of the workshops designed to introduce incoming students to one of the campus’ many resources was an assembly introducing students to the LGBTQ center. According to Jen Manion, the director of the LGBTQ resource center, the point of this assembly was to identify Conn as a “queer-friendly space, to teach [the students] about homophobia.”
This year the forum took on a more serious approach than it has in the past, as six students who were “out” came forth and spoke directly to the incoming students about the LGBTQ program.
Another workshop designed to educate students about Conn’s values and goals as a community was the “Let’s Talk About Race” workshop. Within this workshop, students were introduced to ways in which to have conversations about race.
According to Elizabeth Garcia, the Dean of Multicultural Affairs, this workshop served to help “plant that seed…[and to] send that initial message that race is something we care about at Conn.”
Along with these informational sessions, a number of fun activities were planned to break the ice and to help the students get to know each other. Some of these activities included the traditional ice cream social, drive-in movie and glow in the dark games, among others. New this year was the Playfair activity, which was essentially a giant meet-and-greet that took place on the first night of orientation, and the board games that were incorporated into the ice cream social.
Most of the activities were a big success according to Blodgett, who noted that there was “a higher volume of freshmen there” this year. She gives most of this credit to the peer advisors, who were responsible for getting the new students to all the events.
While the faculty coordinators were responsible for coming up with the ideas and buying all materials necessary, it was the students and their enthusiasm that lead to the high attendance and success of the activities.
“Kudos definitely to the students. We rely on them a lot,” said Blodgett. A committee of four student advisor coordinators with a committee of eight students working under them all gave up part of their summer to help plan. Orientation would not have come together if it weren’t for the hours of hard work put in all summer by both students and faculty.
Photo by Tanaha Simon
